WILKES-BARRE, Pa. – The FDU-Florham men's basketball team held a halftime lead but was unable to hold off King's College, falling 86-74 to the Monarchs on Wednesday night at Scandlon Gymnasium.

Sophomore forward Donte Ali (Willingboro, N.J.) finished with 21 points, seven rebounds, four blocked shots and a steal for the Devils (1-19, 0-9 Freedom), while the Monarchs (11-9, 4-5 Freedom) received a 28-point, 10-rebound performance from their sophomore forward Dan Rutecki to snap a two-game skid.

The Devils got off to a fast start by scoring the game's first seven points but the Monarchs responded with a 15-5 run over the next five minutes of action to stake an early 15-12 lead. King's proceeded to stretch its lead to seven (26-19) with 6:20 to play in the opening stanza. However, the Devils surged back by hitting five of their next six shots across a 13-3 spurt, which gave FDU-Florham the five-point edge that they carried into the locker room.

Senior guard Kevin Furlong (Hazlet, N.J.) scored all 10 of his points in the first half, as the Devils shot a season best 55.6 percent from the floor. Ali led all scorers at the break with 11 points and added four boards, three blocks and two assists his first-half ledger.

The Monarchs quickly erased the five-point deficit in the first three minutes of the second half and midway through the period, the home team had built an 11-point cushion at 61-50. Rutecki netted eight points over that stretch as the Monarchs outscored the Devils 15-3 and converted 7-of-8 from the field. Meanwhile, the Devils' shooting went cold as they only managed to knock down 1-of-6 and turned the ball over three times during that stretch.

The Monarchs increased their lead to 21 before Michael Barber (Middletown, N.J.) hit two treys and Charlie Slack (Audubon, N.J.) nailed one in the game's final two minutes, which resulted in the game's final score.

FDU-Florham shot a season-best 50 percent from behind the arc, including 7-of-12 in the second stanza but was unable to slow the Monarchs at the other end of the floor as King's knocked down 58.8 percent of their shots in the second half.

In addition to Ali and Furlong, Steve Herdman (South Amboy, N.J.) and Barber each scored in double-figures with 13 and 12 points respectively. The duo also combined to hit seven treys in the loss.

For the Monarchs, sophomore John Fazzini was locked in and totaled 18 points on a red-hot 7-for-9 shooting.

The Devils will head back on the road in their next contest, when they visit Eastern University this Saturday, February 7 at 3 p.m.